Accession Number | VN/66/0042/24 |
---|---|
Collection type | Photograph |
Object type | Negative |
Maker |
Westbury, Gerald Wallace |
Place made | Vietnam: Vung Tau Special Zone, Vung Tau |
Date made | 19 August 1966 |
Conflict |
Vietnam, 1962-1975 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain This item is in the Public Domain |
O43428 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Bruce Ivan Lane, of Canberra, ACT, sits at the controls of his ...
O43428 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Bruce Ivan Lane, of Canberra, ACT, sits at the controls of his No 9 Squadron, RAAF, Iroquois helicopter, after having flown two Viet Cong (VC) prisoners from the battle area to a rear hospital for treatment. On 18 August 1966, D Company, 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR) fought a battle against more than 2 000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops in a rubber plantation near the village of Long Tan. After fighting in torrential rain for four hours, and almost being overrun, they were supported by accurate artillery fire from the nearby Australian task force base, an ammunition resupply by two Iroquois helicopters from 9 Squadron, RAAF, and the arrival of infantry reinforcements carried by Armoured Personnel Carriers. Eighteen Australians were killed and twenty-four wounded as a result of this engagement, which became known as the Battle of Long Tan. Flt Lt Lane took part in the ammunition resupply to D Company, 6 Battalion by helicopter the evening before.